Lynne Connolly’s review of Blackmailed into the Greek Tycoon’s Bed by Carol Marinelli
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Presents 7 Aug 09

This one I loved, despite it having a few strikes against it. First, it’s a rugby book. HMB decided to do one book a month with a rugby theme, and with a few honourable exceptions, they’ve been unmitigated disasters. One in particular breaks the rules of the game several times during the course of the story.

This one understood the passion the fans had for the game and used it as a background, and it was all the better for that. Used in that way, the rugby background provided a non-intrusive, but unusual tinge to the story, and actually enhanced it.

To all intents and purposes, Karin Wallis is a rich, spoiled girl, but the reality is very different. Yes, this is a Cinderella story but with a realistic feel about it. Her grandfather had been a star of rugby and an all-round good egg, but her parents and her brother dissipated the family fortune while wanting to keep up appearances. So much like so many of our revered families today (why does the word “Spencer” come to mind?)

What I loved about this story is that during the course of it, Karin goes from doormat to someone who is prepared to do something about her situation, and do it independently of the hero. She sorts her own life out, thank you very much, and if you listen very hard, you can hear me cheering her on.

Xante Rossi, our Greek shipping tycoon hero, has dragged himself up from being a poor fisherman’s son to one of the richest men in the world. A bit like Regency dukes – lay them end to end and they’d encircle the earth. But Marinelli goes a bit further than the usual rich, handsome, domineering blah, she shows the scars and the difficulties in Xante’s character. He doesn’t trust easily, but he’s intelligent enough to see there is something behind the heroine’s prickly behavior. He realizes it’s not all about him. (Hoo-yah!)

There is an initial misunderstanding, but it’s reasonable, considering the front Karin’s family has been putting up, but when Karin steals the jeweled rose he has bought from her brother without her knowledge, a rose that belonged to her grandfather, he knows there is more to it than a spoiled woman taking what she believes she’s entitled to, despite her protestations to the contrary. (You do realize that’s such a long sentence my editors would have made me change it? Ha!)

Sometimes you wonder how these heroes got where they were, because they are sooo stupid they can’t see when a naïve woman is fooling them. Not this one. He will take so much, and then he realizes he can’t force her, can’t change her life for her, and trusts her enough for her to gain the courage and resolution to do it for herself.

There’s a side issue. Karen has ugly scars on her arm and breast, legacies of a car accident. She’s embarrassed about them, has shown them to a previous boyfriend (a non virgin heroine, hallelujah!) and he rejected her. I did become a trifle bored with that, but Marinelli uses it as a trust issue. When she trusts Xante enough to show him everything, all of her, then they have reached the place they want to be.

So all in all, a good book and one I really enjoyed. A solid B+ from me. I wanted to know more about Xante’s fortune and how he built it up and at the beginning the misunderstandings made me a tad frustrated, but apart from that, go for it, because this is a good one.

Grade: C-

Bookish heiress Karin has failed in her first act of defiance She’s tried to take back the symbol of everything good in her life, but ruthless billionaire Xante Rossi has caught her red-handed

Why is this shy beauty stealing from him? Xante is intrigued. Karin’s purity belies the corruption her family name represents.

To save her from scandal and uncover the truth, he’ll make a proposal. If Karin wants her precious heirloom, she’ll have to earn it back in his bedroom.

Read an excerpt.